this morning on "early today," as the dust settles. air space begins to open up over europe, but travel headaches remain. funnel force. a large tornado carves a path through northern texas. and rott apple. an ipad theft turns gruesome for one colorado man. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. today with begin with back in business.

authorities lifted a ban on flights in and out of england's busiest airport last night after volcanic ash from iceland kept planes on the ground there for nearly a week. still as runways across europe return to life, there's no telling how long it will last and how long it might take to get everyone home. nbc's leanne gregg reports. >> reporter: european air space is coming to life again slowly. the process of moving millions of passengers who have been waiting for days is now under way. >> i got a flight out today, was on the phone for about an hour last night, and got a colleague, though, that's still stuck in paris. hopefully he'll get home on thursday. >> reporter: the first passengers flying out of heathrow airport since the volcanic eruption left london with mixed emotions. >> i think we're just a little nervous that we're the first flight flying out and just hope we make it back to the united states, san francisco, oklahoma. >> reporter: there's been heavy pressure on airlines to fly after already losing more than a billion dollar. the airline industry estimates

losses at nearly $200 million a day. in lifting the ban, officials try to reissue air travelers. >> despite the ash in the atmosphere, it's possible for safe routes through areas where there are low levels of ash to be expected. >> reporter: experts agree volcanic ash can jam engines but they don't agree on how much is too much and where it might be along the travel routes. measuring potential risks as america waits for the ash plume to clear and what the volcano desights to do next. well, it appears gop opposition to legislation to regulate wall street may be softening. yesterday republicans backed off their harsh criticisms after democrats clarified that financial firms would not be receiving any bailouts through a $50 billion industry-supported fund. as a result, both parties are saying they can work together on financial regulation. nbc's steve handelsman has the story.

>> reporter: it's the new big issue. financial regulation of wall street. >> we have to acknowledge that the status quo has not worked. >> reporter: government has just sued goldman sachs for knowingly selling bad mortgage security. lehman brothers bankruptcy when the housing bubble burst was probed in the house. >> the unscrupulous practices illustrates why the senate needs to quickly pass and the congress needs to swiftly finalize the wall street reform bill. >> reporter: democrats dropped the plan to keep bailouts as a backup. that could win over republican votes. >> there's a very serious effort to reengage and get a result. >> reporter: a hint of cooperation. >> i think we are getting closer together. >> reporter: a touch of republican remorse. >> i think the rhetoric on our side has been over the top. >> reporter: both sides are cooperating against the likes of richard fuld, the former lee man

brothers ceo who made half a million dollar but let his company fail and drag down the economy. >> where one day we had a firm. the next day we did not. a lot of people got hurt by that. >> it could mean fewer lehman-style excesses on wall street and more cooperation on capitol hill. i'm steve handelsman, nbc, washington. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. tornado season is picking up in texas where a large twister touched down for a couple of minutes tuesday. witnesses say the storm also produced golf ball-sized hail in the area. there were some reports of flooding and minor damage to nearby houses, but fortunately no one was hurt. a man robbed outside a shopping mall in denver lost more than just his new ipad. surveillance video shows a thief rip the shopping bag out of his hand taking most of his pinky finger along with it. well, police are now hoping the

ipad's serial number will help them track down the suspect. a new york teenager is facing second-degree charges for losing control of her van and killing the neighbor mowing the lawn. she jumping the curb and struck the victim before crashing into her house. miami may be known for having some of the hottest nightclubs around, but now it can also boast the coldest. after seeing similar venues in europe, they decided to build an ice lounge in the sunshine state. and while it may be 80 degrees outside, it's only 24 inside the bar. and no need to order your drinks on the rocks here. drinks already come in glasses made of ice. how convenient. well, now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill, good morning to you. >> morning. this is green is universal week, right? >> right. >> can you imagine what it takes to keep that cold in miami? >> yeah, but you're using ice

glasses, so you don't have to wash them. that's green, right? >> oh. that's how you're going to spit it? >> yeah. speaking of spinning, you said the tornado system was going to move in. it looks like that happened in texas. >> we had a pretty good sized one. luckily it didn't do too much damage. that was yesterday near amarillo. a supercell that had formed. that was the storm that was right there. we don't expect any huge severe weather outbreaks today or tomorrow. i think if we're going to get one, the best chance is on friday. that's because of the big storm that hit the west coast yesterday. now it's moving over the rockies. this is going to be a slow moving system. it's going to take until the weekend to get to the east coast. now, as far as this morning goes on the east coast, we have some wet weather out there. florida has seen some thunderstorms overnight, just out of i-4, crossing into the melbourne area, also north of jacksonville we had a thunderstorm push off the coast. north of that we have shower this morning covering much of the state of virginia. so for washington, d.c. to virginia beach to norfolk, you

do need your umbrella this morning. it should be beautiful this morning. northern plains look pretty good. at least for today denver should be good, and much of texas should be okay, but there will be scattered strong storms as we go throughout the next couple of afternoons. that's a quick look at your wednesday forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. salt lake city, utah, this morning has been seeing some stormy weather mostly to the north of you. so in the rockies, it's kind of the worst of the weather today. raleigh, north carolina, showers and storms also for you. well, we'll take a look at where more of that wet weather is located when i come back. >> all right. thank you, bill. well, apple delivers, delta sees brighter skies, and proof you really can advertise anywhere. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, talk about therapy material, kim kardashian wishes she hadn't posed for "playboy" and blames her mom.

the celtics roll without kevin garnett, the new york ira save the best for last. you're watching "early today." ls save the best for last. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headline this morning. in new york 14 members of the gambino crime family have been arrested and slapped with a long list of charges including murder, jury tampering, and drug trafficking. the prosecutors also say the mob entered new criminal territory, sex trafficking of a minor. the parents behind t infamous balloon boy hoax have agreed to pay $36,000 for some of the costs incurred by emergency personnel responding to last year's incident. the agencies wanted $12,000 more for the sky-high drama where the parents falsely reported their boy was trapped in a runaway homemade balloon. and picasso's famous painting "the actor" has

return to new york's metropolitan museum of art. it was gone since january when a woman accidentally fell into it and tore the canvas. the repaired masterpiece should be safe now that it's behind plexiglass. probably a good idea. and now here's an early look at hue wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,117 after adding 25 points. the s&p rose 9 points. the nasdaq went up 20 points. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei climbed 189 points, but in hong kong the hang seng fell 112 points. stocks continue their relentless advance yesterday as investors continued to overlook the problems of wall street giant goldman sachs, preferring to focus instead on first quarter profits. among the biggest percentage gainers of companies reporting earnings yesterday, marshall & ilsley up over 10%, harley-davidson, up more than 7%, and illinois tool, up almost 4%.

after the bell, heavy hitter apple reported its first quarter profit jumped 90%, above expectations, led by strong sales of the iphone. that plus a strong revenue forecast led shares of apple to jump to yet another all-time high in after-hours trade. yahoo! also reported after the bell. earnings beat expectations, but first quarter revenue came in slightly lower than expected, sending shares tumbling in extended trade. in regular trade, coke hurt by worse than expected volume decline in north america reported first quarter revenue that rose 5% but fell short of estimates. delta posted a smaller quarterly loss with business traffic beginning to recover and said it expects a profit in the current period despite disruptions to transatlantic travel caused by ice land's volcano. goldman sachs, as expected posted stellar results with first quarter profits nearly doubling on higher trading

revenue, but unexpect ed stock fell 2% over growing concerns over the company's ly the legal troubles. ibm led all decliners on the dow tuesday, falling almost 2%. and, finally, one oregon man who's just been told he has months to live is selling advertising space on his urn. the man says he hopes to raise 800 dollars to help his wife pay for his cremation. well, one friend, a restaurant owner, has already paid $100 for an ad, which the dying man plans to hand paint himself. well, sid the kid comes up big for the pens, the celtics square off again with the heat, and last inning heroics in baseball. plus, can kobe lead the lakers to silence the thunder? your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. we can only hope the april showers will bring beautiful may showers in the mid-atlantic because rain is in your forecast today. your regional forecast is coming right up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, even without their big man, kevin garnett, the boston celtics easily managed to beat the heat in game two of

their nba match-up. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. on paper, the miami heat had an advantage when kevin garnett was advantage, but what happened on the court was a different story. celts didn't miss garnett at all. glen davis started in his place and was there to dominate. pulled down eight boards. ray allen capped a 44-8 run. with one of his five three-point three-pointers. celts lead after a 106-77 win. out west, lakers and thunder kobe bryant was an afterthought. he found his touch last night. 39 points for bryant. lakers up three in the fourth. thunder had a chance at the buzzer, but jeff green's three was off the mark, and the lakers held on to win it, 95-92. the league's number one defense just got a little better. new york jets have signed six-time pro bow bowl linebacker taylor to a deal. nhl playoffs, all pittsburgh. sidney crosby started the onslaught in the second period. third goal of the postseason

made it 2-0. the pens weren't done. they scored five in the period. crosby had a pair. penguins won it 7-4. they can close things out tomorrow night. new jersey devils on the brink of elimination. they lost to the flyers 4-1. now you might remember, philly had to win its final game of the season just to win the playoffs. now they're one win away from advancing to the semis. the flyers scored four unanswered goal en route to a victory. that game five is also tomorrow night. finally an incredible comeback to show you, the braves against the phils. down 3-0, two outs in the ninth. troy glaus hit a two-run homer. braves down, 3-2. next batter, rookie, jason heyward, tied a solo shot, forced extra innings. in the tenth nate hit a walk off homer. braves saved the best for last. including the celebration. mclouth got to the dugout and his team was nowhere to be found. they gave him the cold shoulder and headed to the showers. braves won a wild one, 4-3. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. well, a new career for jennifer aniston, and why disney

wasn't the happiest place on earth for the gosselin family. your early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. plus, she has something old and something new, but this bride is missing the most important thing for her upcoming wedding. you're watching "early today."

well, welcome back. here's a look at the rain that's going to cause some issues on

the morning drive heading from virginia to roanoke to richmond to harrisburg to d.c. we're seeing the showers spread your way and eventually they're make it to baltimore, maryland, and delaware. relatively calm in texas, around amarillo and texas, strong storms later on this afternoon. looking good in the northern plains. the rockies look pretty nice. the southeast wet weather early today but you should clear out this afternoon. if you're watching us on kark tv 4 little rock ark, leave your bags at home when you travel around the globe at the passport to the world exhibit at the arkansas museum of discovery. and that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. all right, bill. thanks so much. well, now here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. a lot of actors would actually want to be on the other side of the cameras directing and eventually jennifer aniston is one of them. inspired by drew barrymore's recent debut as a director, aniston has her own in the

works, telling the "national enquirer", quote, it's getting to a time where creatively i want to turn in a different direction. and kate gosselin who got booted off dancing of the stars last night took the kids to disneyland last weekend and were loudly booed by people who were waiting for hours to get on rides, but disney personnel whisked thes go license to the front of every line. not fair, right? and, finally, kim kardashian says she's sorry she posed nude in "playboy". she said she was uncomfortable and she actually blamed her mother for talking her into it. she quotes her mom, go for it, do it, and you'll have these beautiful pictures to look at when you're my age. somehow kardashian found the courage to pose naked again in the current harper's bazaar. this is exactly what's wrong with national television. too much information. i mean we don't need to know the inner workings of the kardashian family and that mom would promote this. >> the next reality show will be

their therapy sessions. >> actually you probably gave them, sadly, a good idea for ratings. this comes to us from wkyc cleveland, ohio, where in nearby rocky river one bride is missing a crucial part of her formula. she has always the preparations to throw a lavish ceremony, everything except her groom. her fiance, an army sergeant, is stuck in germany thanks to restrictions following by iceland's volcanic eruption. the wedding is this weekend and the groom has a flight scheduled to go out today so everyone of course has their fingers crossed for the couple. >> so many people have been missing weddings and all sorts of conditions. >> it must be painful to sit in an airport. but you miss your wedding, whole other story. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station.

. >> good morning. i am tony pann. the weather is pretty quiet. we do have a chance for some rain. for the most part, we should be fine. we could see some rain out west near hagerstown in the next couple of hours. in the 40's right now. it will make it into the low 60's today. a little chilly. we will come back and look at the seven-day forecast. now to the news desk. >> 47 degrees.

here is a look ahead. >> 3 baltimore city police officers have been suspended. find out what they were doing. >> air travel is slowly resuming. how the suspension of some flights is costing area businesses. >> a new study of how our savings accounts are being affected. >> we will let you know if we have any early morning issues to contend with.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good morning. i am mindy basara. >> and i am stan stovall. >> and i am stan stovall. >> it is in the